Although I am a fan like everyone else at Stanley
Cup time (unfortunately no back to back cup for the Boston Bruins!),
I also like to treat the games as a “hockey biology” course and
dissect the play of the different goalies. What techniques,
strategies and concepts are at the forefront? Am I teaching concepts
and skills that are keeping up with a constantly changing game? With
that being said, here are some random thoughts about what I saw this
year:

Crease Presence Breeds Team Confidence:

Braden Holtby of the Capitals had a great playoff year. (sorry
Bruins!) Sure he had some great saves, but I admired the confident,
relaxed and unflappable mental approach Holtby displayed. I’m sure
his quiet, steady crease presence gave the Caps the confidence to
play their game knowing he had their backs. I believe the Kings with
Jonathan Quick, the Devils with Marty Brodeur, the Rangers with
Henrik Lundstrom all felt the same way. Had any of these goalies
fallen apart emotionally under the pressure of the Stanley Cup
playoffs, their teams would not have gone as far as they did.

Old School Still Has Its Place:

There
are many critics of Marty Brodeur’s old school style of play because
he doesn’t employ a steady diet of blocking butterfly slides. The
fundamental belief I have always had is that goalies should have a
“tool bag” of the types of saves they can use and have the ability
to read the plays and apply the correct moves within a matter of
seconds. Tim Thomas comes to mind as another goalie who reads plays
extremely well. If you over-use diving pokechecks, stacks of the
pads and other “old school” techniques or use them incorrectly, they
won’t work. However, there are situations and times where a
pokecheck or kick save or stack of the pads can be the most
effective move. You must keep an open mind and play the type of game
that works for you. Whatever your style is (old school, new school
or something in between), refine it and adapt to the constantly
changing game of hockey so you are not predictable.

Jonathan Quick had an amazing
playoff year. His explosive quickness, pad movement and battling
skills were a joy to watch. He was asked at various times during the
playoffs “Should young goalies copy your style?” He laughingly said
“no”. The key to learning from others is to find out why the
technique or style of play works. In Quick’s case, he is in
excellent condition to play that explosive style. If, for example,
you are out of shape and lazy and tried to copy Quick’s style, you
will be lit up like the 4th of July. What I took from Quick is that
he is very quick at getting to scoring spots first. If he gets there
before a shooter settles the puck or has time and space to make a
good choice, he can win the battle. If he has a close gap between
him and the shooter, the top corners are not as open as the shooter
thinks. No matter who your favorite goalie role model is, borrow
what could work for your style and discard the rest. Again, your
goal is to be the best “you” that you can be, not a recycled copy of
someone else.

Catching Glove Skills Ain’t What They
Used to Be!

I love teaching catching glove skills
especially since goalies of all ages don’t do it that well any more.
With the emphasis on blocking skills, goalies have forgotten the art
of catching the puck. There were a lot of stoppable high glove shots
during the Cup playoffs this year. Even at the high skill level of
the NHL, goalies were locking their arms with no turning into the
saves. Hands were behind the body instead of ahead. Awkward shoulder
rolls away from the puck were prevalent. To me, the glove is the
main piece of equipment that allows the goalie some flair and
personality. When the goalie has great economy of movement by
turning the back shoulder and head in the direction of the catch,
has the glove at a forward diagonal from the nose to the thumb and
the wrist turned slightly downward so it meets the rising trajectory
of the puck, the glove save is a thing of beauty! Although there
were a bunch of sloppy glove save goals, there were also some
fantastic glove saves like the Flyers goalie against a wide open
Penguin in the first round.